Amanda vs Selfless Sewing

When someone asks me to sew something for them I get all fretful. It’s a default of mine. While I may seem rather suave and sophisticated (BWAH HA HA!!!!!) I am a total bundle of nerves when it comes to anything I have made. I can’t fit for myself let along for anyone else, I protest. You’re far too cool to want something crafted with my sewasaurus claws of wonder and doom, I declare. Or most importantly You do realise I only make things in crazy prints? So when my dear friend Jess, crafty minx extraordinaire, asked me to make her a skirt over Christmas I made my regular excuses but grabbed her measurements anyway for future schemes. Once I realised we’re about the same size I decided to wait and make her a rad separate for her birthday… So enter Jess’ Hollyburn (as modelled by Amanda)…

Gah! It’s too cute! I curbed my enthusiasm for crazy prints and instead went with a classic polka dot in a lovely navy blue. I lined it in a soft pink rayon from my stash and added some piping to accent the lines of the pattern. I love how it makes the slash pockets pop!

Yay pockets!

I drafted my own lining for the skirt as I know Jess loves to wear tights in winter and I didn’t want the fabric to catch. I wanted to sass up the bottom of the hem some with some lace but unfortunately didn’t purchase enough to go round the whole hem. In fact, when I started going through all my trims I could not for the life of me find one that was the right length. Let this be a lesson to y’all- don’t leave hand stitching trim until the night before you need to post something because you’ll run out of it for sure. So I decided to get sneaky and machine sew on some lovely white grosgrain. Now I still was about 20cm short of what I needed so I double up two thinner pieces of grosgrain, layered them carefully and stitched them on and it mostly looks like it is all one piece of awesome. Tricksy!

Isn’t it rad? I’m a happy with my make do and mend result!

But can we talk about my new favourite thing about polka dots I have discovered? Taking a photo of someone spinning the fabric. It’s trippy!

And if I may share my sewist shame with y’all… I was super careful when cutting the pocket pieces to make sure the polka dots would line up well with the front of the skirt. But I paid so much attention to that that I messed up the front seam. Doh! Please accept my shamefaced sewasaurus rex photo in penance…

How forgiving it is when making for others. As long as I got the waist sitting pretty rad I knew this would fit like a charm. The flared shape makes this super forgiving!

How easy it was to make a lining for this. Love it!

Piping. Sweet piping. I should right an ode to piping… Nay, a haiku!

Piping is most rad

Tiny cord of awesomeness

Get ye on my make!

What I would change for next time:

Invisible hem. They’re super fun but I have to be in the right mood to hand stitch them. Given winter is upon us it’s a nice excuse to curl up on the couch with Bimble and Pimble and do some hand sewing.

Make a copy cat version for myself! Is it weird to matchy matchy dress with someone who is 1500km away? Is it kosher to copy your own selfless sewing? What is the etiquette on this? Let me know, Jess!

So, Boo. So glad you love your birthday skirt! Ear it well, travel safe and see you when you get back from the States! It’s going to be rad!

The very few times I have made something for someone else I have convinced myself that I am in love with it and need it and NOT wanted to gift it to them. But, if I’d have made the same thing for myself I would not have wanted it so bad. I am so frickin’ selfish!

*she says as she cut out a pattern for someone else last night….. In my defense, it’s an ickle baby dress out of peter rabbit fabric and I’m living vicariously through them as I can’t pull the fabric off as well as a baby can. I think that makes it selfish sewing!

Pumpkin, if you don’t make a matching skirt, how will we swan around Sydney during our next Dream Date with large sunglasses on and tiny dogs in our handbags? Whoops, sorry, slipped into an alternate dimension there for a moment… but yes, polka-dot-matching skirts WILL happen. We’ll just wear different blouses. xx I adore it, thank you!!